Ray Horton
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Ray Horton
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, CO-COORDINATOR OF UNDERGRADUATE LITERATURE PROGRAM
FH 7C-18
"In overlooking, denying, evading [this] complexity 鈥 which is nothing more than the disquieting complexity of ourselves 鈥 we are diminished and we perish; only within this web of ambiguity, paradox, this hunger, danger, darkness, can we find at once ourselves and the power that will free us from ourselves. It is this power of revelation which is the business of the novelist, this journey toward a more vast reality which must take precedence over all other claims." - James Baldwin
Education
- Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University
- M.A., Case Western Reserve University
- B.A., Mercyhurst University
Highlighted Publications
Book Manuscripts:
- American Fiction鈥檚 Secular Faith (In Progress)
- Bad Faith in American Fiction (In Progress)
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
- Seeing in 鈥榯he darkness, visible鈥: White Supremacy and Original Sin in Marilynne Robinson鈥檚Jack.鈥 Christianity & Literature, vol. 71, no. 2, 2022, pp. 223-43.
- 鈥淐hildren of the Culture Wars: Secularism, Aesthetics, and Judgments of Value in Zadie Smith鈥檚 On Beauty.鈥 LIT: Literature, Interpretation, Theory, vol. 32, no. 1, 2021, pp. 41-58.
- 鈥淚s there a Context for Gilead? Reading The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale and Lila under the Christian Right.鈥 Christianity & Literature, vol. 69, no. 1, 2020, pp. 15-35.
- 鈥溾楻ituals of the ordinary鈥: Marilynne Robinson鈥檚 Aesthetics of Belief and Finitude.鈥 PMLA, vol. 132, no. 1, 2017, pp. 119-34.
Encyclopedia Entries and Bibliographies:
- 鈥淩eligion and Contemporary Fiction.鈥 Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Fiction, 1980-2020. Wiley-Blackwell, 2022. (5,000-word entry)
- 鈥淩obinson, Marilynne.鈥 Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts. Ed. Timothy Beal. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2016. Oxford Reference. (3,000-word entry)
- 鈥淢arilynne Robinson.鈥 Oxford Bibliographies in American Literature.鈥 Oxford: Oxford UP, 2022. Oxford Bibliographies. Eds. Jackson R. Bryer, Richard Kopley, and Paul Lauter. (In Progress.)
Reviews and Commentary:
- 鈥淭he Praise Band to English Professor Pipeline.鈥 Post45 Contemporaries. Forthcoming in special issue titled 鈥?鈥 edited by Christopher Douglas and Matthew Mullins. (4,000-word essay)
- Review of Faith in Exposure: Privacy and Secularism in the Nineteeth-Century United
States by Justine S. Murison, Univeristy of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. Early American
Literature. (Forthcoming).
Courses Taught
- ENG 105: Critical Reading, Writing and Inquiry
- ENG 252 / RGS 252: Literature and Religion
- ENG 312: American Literature, 1865-1945
- ENG 335: Major Authors (James Baldwin)
- ENG 409: The American Novel
- ENG 444: American Literature, 1920-Present
- ENG 609: Critical Theory
- ENG 631: American Literature, 1870-1920
- ENG 636: American Novel
- ENG 637: Topics in African American Literature
- ENG 773: Teaching Selected Authors
- HON 251: Honors Seminar in Literature and Philosophy I
- HUM 211: Topics in Literature and Philosophy
Areas of Specialization
- American Literature
- Literature and Religion
- Secularization Theory
- Contemporary Fiction
Awards and Distinctions
- "College Teacher of the Year," Kentucky Council of Teachers of English (2023)
- Board of Regents Teaching Excellence Award, Murray State University (2022)
- Graduate Dean's Instructional Excellence Award, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), 2017
- Adrian-Salomon Dissertation Fellowship, CWRU, 2016-17
- College of Arts & Sciences Dissertation Fellowship, CWRU, 2016
- Dean's Fellowship, CWRU English Department, 2014-17
Leadership and Service
- Co-Coordinator, Undergraduate Literature, Murray State (2018-present)
- American Religion and Literature Society: President (2016-2019), Treasurer (2019-2022)
- Vice President: Gender Equity Caucus (2022-Present)
- Faculty Senator (2023-24)